Facebook Pages: Timeline

Facebook is rolling out a dramatic change to the layout of its Fan and Business Pages that will have a drastic effect. The new layout change, called Timeline, was originally applied only to personal profiles but will automatically be applied to Fan and Business Pages beginning on March 30th as well

Background of Timeline

The idea behind Timeline is to better tell the story of your business through dates and milestones, highlighting important events and posts. One of its biggest benefits is that it allows your fans to send messages directly to you instead of posting onto the wall. This will afford you more privacy when it comes to responding to negative comments.

Negatives of the Timeline
Unfortunately, the launch of the timeline now means you will be unable to display discounts/price or purchase information, contact information (which should go in your “About” section), references or pointing to Facebook actions such as “Like” or “Share,” or calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”

Customizing the Timeline
There are now only two main customizable aspects on your Fan Page, the two image areas. The large image area is called a Cover Photo, which should be engaging and express your Page’s identity. The Profile Picture is the small image to the left where you can put your logo. This will also appear as a thumbnail image on other parts of Facebook and next to your Page’s updates in the news feed. This is small logo is the most important part of your fan page because it will be the thing that people will see when you comment throughout Facebook.

Alternative Resources

Here’s an article with a two minute overview summarizing the major changes. Read article…